ACTS 13 - THE FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEY

13:1-5
At Antioch

The story of the first missionary journey begins in the church at Antioch (Northern Syria).

That is appropriate since it was a church founded by missionaries. Chapter 11 told us that Jewish Christians in Jerusalem fled persecution. Some came to Antioch, in northern Syria. At first they witnessed only to other Jews, but then they began to speak to the Greeks.

A church formed from these new believers. The apostles sent Barnabas to check on them. Barnabas went to Tarsus, found Saul, and brought him to Antioch to help teach. Chapter 13 picks up the story.

The Lord gave both prophets and teachers to the church in Antioch. Luke named 5: Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius, Manean, and Saul. They were a diverse group: Barnabas, a Jew from Cyprus, Simeon from Africa, Lucius, a Roman from northern Libya, Manaen, a friend and member of the court of Herod Antipas, who killed John the Baptist. “Manaen” is a Greek form of the Hebrew name “Menahem”. Lastly, Saul, a former Pharisee from Tarsus in Cilicia, in the southern part of what is now Turkey.

While the church was gathered to worship, the Holy Spirit told them to set Barnabas and Saul apart for work the Holy Spirit had called them to. Since Luke mentioned prophets in the church, that word may well have come from one of them. The church responded by fasting, praying, and laying hands on the men before sending them out.

So, Barnabas and Saul sailed for Cyprus. (4) They took John Mark with them. (5) Mark was Barnabas’ cousin. He may have been a witness to the death and resurrection of Jesus. As such, he could assist them by testifying to the truth of the story. The word for “assistant” is the same word used in Luke 1:2 for “ministers” of the word.

Barnabas was from Cyprus, so that may be how they decided to start there. Plus, Barnabas was not only a Jew, he was a Levite. (4:36) That would have given him some standing in the synagogues there.

They started at Salamis, the port city on the eastern shore of the island, and the closest point to Antioch. They worked their way across the island, preaching in the synagogues in each town, until they came to Paphos, the port city on the western end of the island. It was also the seat of the Roman government on the island.  (6)

13:6-12
Witnessing to the Proconsul

At Paphos, the missionaries encountered the Roman proconsul, Sergius Paulus, and Bar-Jesus, a Jewish false prophet and magician. Sergius summoned Barnabas and Saul to come and talk to him, to speak the word of God. (7)

But the magician, also called Elymas, opposed them and tried to keep Sergius from the faith. Paul called him “son of the devil”. From this, we can surmise that the magician’s power was demonic. But Saul stood up to him. He was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and struck him blind.

Here we also see that, for the first time, Saul’s Roman name is mentioned. He was also called Paul. (9) Maybe it is mentioned here because they are in the Roman capital of the island and it is the same name as the proconsul. Both Paul and the proconsul would have spelled it Paullus in Latin.

Striking the man blind not only rendered him powerless, it was a powerful sign of the truth of the gospel. The miracle, plus the teaching, brought the proconsul to believe.

13:13-37
Witnessing in Pisidia

After this, Luke begins to place Paul in the primary position of the missionaries. He spoke of “Paul and his companions” sailing to Perga in Pamphylia. This is again in what is now southern Turkey. It had been part of the Hittite kingdom, but at the time of Paul’s visit, was a Greek city.

The only event Luke noted there was that John Mark left the mission there and returned to Jerusalem. We do not know why, but we find out later that Paul took it badly. Paul went inland to Antioch in Pisidia, crossing a mountain range. This was a Roman city at the time of Paul. It was in the province of Galatia. The ruins of the city are still visible today.

The missionaries went to the synagogue on the Sabbath. In addition to the Jews, there were “God fearers”, Gentiles who believed but were not circumcised. After the Scripture reading, the rulers of the synagogue invited the visitors to speak. So, Paul did. He gave them an Old Testament history lesson, much as Stephen did before his execution.

The Old testament lesson began with God choosing Israel, growing them in Egypt and leading them out to the wilderness and then to Canaan. (16-18) Notice it says God “put up with them”.

Then, the story moves to Canaan with God destroying the Canaanites and giving the land to Israel. (19) The seven nations are listed in Deuteronomy 7:1. Paul spoke of the judges that lasted until Samuel, then the first king, Saul. Last, Paul said God raised up David to be their king, a man after God’s heart. (22)

From there, Paul made the leap to Jesus, saying that God brought a Savior from David’s line as he promised, and this savior is Jesus. It was important to show Jesus’ descent from David, just as Peter had done in his sermons, because the Jews knew from scripture that the Messiah would come from David’s line. (Psalm 89:19-29) You can imagine the congregation sitting up and paying close attention at this point.

Paul spoke of John the Baptist proclaiming Jesus(24) and affirming that John was not the Messiah.

Then Paul bore down. He said God sent them a message of salvation. The Jews in Jerusalem did not recognize Jesus, or understand the scripture, and had him executed. (28)  But God raised him and he appeared to many witnesses. This is similar to Peter’s theme, except Peter could say he was such a witness.

Paul said God’s promise of salvation was fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus. (32) He went to the Psalms. First, he quoted Psalm 2:7, where God declared Jesus to be his Son. He went on to say Psalm 16 was fulfilled in that Jesus, the Messiah, was not allowed to see corruption. Jesus was not left in the grave, but raised so that he could indeed fulfill the promise of an eternal king from the line of David.

The Application
13:38-41

Paul finished his sermon with a direct application to his audience. Forgiveness for sins was proclaimed, complete forgiveness for sins. He told them they could, through faith in Christ, be completely justified, something the law of Moses could not do.

Paul also gave them a warning. He appealed to the prophet Habakkuk, who warned of the rise of the rise of the Babylonians and the impending invasion. He meant, do not be like those who heard the words of the prophet, but did not believe them, and were destroyed. Applied to them, it meant, do not ignore my words and suffer eternal damnation. That word is for us today. You ignore the gospel at your peril.

The Response
13:42-44a

After hearing Paul’s sermon, the people begged for more on the next Sabbath. They followed Paul and Barnabas around, and talked with them more. The word spread around town and, on the next Sabbath, almost the whole city came to hear Paul preach again.  

The Holy Spirit sent the missionaries, inspired the preaching, and brought people to hear and believe the gospel. He does the same today.